Our Lakes

When we turn on the tap, we take for granted that water will flow. But where does Abilene’s water actually come from?

The water we use every day originates from three local lakes. From there, it travels through underground raw water transmission lines to Abilene’s water treatment facilities, where it is purified to drinking water standards before being delivered to our homes and businesses.

Help save Abilene lakes! Knowledge is power; learn more about our three precious water reservoirs, as well as the critical lake levels that determine our watering alert stages:

FORT PHANTOM HILL RESERVOIR. Fort Phantom Hill Reservoir (Lake Fort Phantom Hill) is between Farm roads 600 and 2833 five miles south of Nugent in the extreme southeast corner of Jones County (at 32°37' N, 99°40' W). The lake, impounded by a dam on Elm Creek, a tributary of the Clear Fork of the Brazos River, covers a surface area of 4,246 acres and provides a storage capacity of 74,310 acre-feet.

The city of Abilene owns and operates the lake for municipal and recreational purposes. Construction began in June 1937 and was finished in October 1938. Since that time Abilene has developed parks on the lake and has diverted water from the Clear Fork and Deadman Creek to the lake in order to meet the needs of the area's growing population.

HUBBARD CREEK RESERVOIR. Hubbard Creek Reservoir (Hubbard Creek Lake) is on Hubbard Creek in the Brazos River basin about six miles northwest of Breckenridge in northwestern Stephens County. Construction began in May 1961 and the dam was completed in December 1962. In the 1990s, the reservoir had a conservation storage capacity of 317,800 acre-feet and a conservation surface area of 15,250 acres at an elevation of 1,183 feet above mean sea level, with a lake shoreline of 100 miles. The lake is owned by the West Central Texas Municipal Water Authority and serves as a source of water for industry, mining, and nearby municipalities, including Abilene, Albany, Anson, and Breckenridge.

O. H. IVIE RESERVOIR. The O. H. Ivie Reservoir, once called Stacy Reservoir, impounded by the S. W. Freese Dam at the Concho-Coleman county line, is located in Concho, Coleman, and Runnels counties. The United States Army Corps of Engineers first expressed a desire for a reservoir site near the confluence of the Concho and Colorado rivers in 1938. However, it wasn’t started until 1985 and completed in 1990. The reservoir was named to honor the water district's general manager, O. H. Ivie. The lake waters are used for domestic and municipal water supply for a number of West Texas cities and towns. The conservation surface area of the lake is 20,000 surface acres. The reservoir and its two-mile rolled earthfill dam are owned and operated by the Colorado River Municipal Water District. The lake drains an area of 3,300 square miles and has a pool elevation of 1,551 feet.